By Billy “Kneecap” Braddock

Everyone knows I’m a political junkie, but in reality I just care about our country. Here we are in our election year with 23 million unemployed, 16 trillion in debt, and over 40 million people on food stamps. It’s time for the people of this country to wake up and smell the poop, not the roses. I’m a libertarian, which means I believe in smaller government. However, our government is growing at an extraordinary pace. An example of this is the increasing government regulations. Reading the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) Annual Report which deals with regulatory agencies of the federal government and the cost of the regulations they continually introduce and enforce. The CEI estimates the cost of US government regulation at $1.75 trillion. That’s 48% of the budget of the federal government. It is almost 10 times the total of all corporate taxes collected and almost double the total collected from individual income taxes. The fact that the cost of complying with these regulations is substantially higher than the total of corporate profits is a stark illustration of the end result of economic intervention. The regulations cover 169,000 pages and more than 10 new ones are added every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. In 2011, the U.S. Congress passed a total of 81 new “laws” while government agencies issued 3,807 new regulations. The CEI points out, if there was ever an example of government without consent of anyone, this is it.

Last month in Lulu’s Letter from the Editor she discussed problems with crotch rockets. Now, this is not to condemn all riders of super sports, but to bring attention to the dangers of the crotch rocket. Friends of mine, CT & Teresa Hill recently went to Deals Gap on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line to ride the Tail of the Dragon. A beautiful ride with 318 turns in 11 miles. Their major complaint was with crotch rockets trying to run the course for time, and almost running the other bikes off the road. Since I took on a new advertiser (garysturgeon@allstate.com), I decided to go to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety and check some statistics. The IIHS reported that riders of crotch rockets have death rates per 10,000 registered vehicles nearly 4 times higher than for riders of other bikes. IIHS says drivers of crotch rockets were the youngest with the average age of 27. Speeding and driver error were bigger factors in crotch rockets accidents. Speed was cited in 57% of crotch rocket fatalities. The reason I brought this up is because we have a lot of readers who ride crotch rockets and this month it is Biketoberfest and I want them to be safe. Slow down and be courteous to other vehicles on the road. Florida does not require insurance for motorcycles unless you don’t want to wear a helmet unless you are under 21. However, I personally feel insurance is necessary if you’re going to ride.

They told me I needed a hobby so I took up gardening-beer gardening. I tell Lulu that I’m severely underpaid, and she said I’m well worth it. You must realize that this article is the result of me eating the lead paint from window sills.

For Sale-a 1985 Honda Gold Wing with California style sidecar. If interested use the contact form here on this site to reach me.